Wit & Perserverance
by Phantaum
Summary: The underground has been reset countless times, at the whims of a single child who seems to be unable to accept the consequences. However, when a new player gets thrown into the mix, the consequences start to actually matter.
1. Act I-I: A Flower Patch of Trouble

James woke with a start, sitting up from the bed of flowers he was resting on. He put his hand to his chest and breathed deeply to try to calm himself.

 _I don't remember coming here_ , he thought to himself as he looked around his surroundings. He was laying in a patch of yellow flowers being lit by sunlight coming from an opening above him. _The wall are too steep to climb_ , he observed, _with too little grip points as well_. He turned his body around to get a better look at the cavern behind him and he noticed a purple blur that was leaned up against the side of what looked to be a threshold in the otherwise featureless gray walls.

"Guess that's the way out of here, not like I have many options anyway," he said to himself, climbing up from the bed of flowers he was sat upon. He turned around and looked at where he was laying and noticed that he had left an imprint in the flowers. Turning back around, he looked at the purple blur and thought, _maybe my glasses are in that bag._ He walked off of the grass and onto the dirt that made up the floor of the cavern and over to the bag.

When he reached the bag, he squatted down next to it, and felt around for the top of the bag to open it. When he felt the opening, he pulled it apart, opening up the bag and revealing the goodies inside. _Let's see here… two bottles of water, five granola bars, a flashlight, a journal and pen, and- ah, here we go!_ He pulled out a black, unmarked glasses case, opened it and pulled out a pair of brown, half rimmed glasses with red highlights on the arms, then put them on, smiling as the world came into focus.

He then reached back down and pulled the black drawstrings shut and put the bag on, adjusting it to rest more comfortably on his shoulders. He then turned and faced the large bleak, dark cave mouth in front of him. "Oh right," he said, joy deflating into a small bit of fear, "I'm gonna have to go in there, aren't I?" He looked around the cave again, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that there was another way out of there. He scanned the the walls around the room again, thinking that he may have missed something with his glasses off. But no, the walls looked just as bare, if not more bare, as they were with his glasses off. He gave an indignant sigh and turned back towards the dark crevice before him, preparing himself to step into the dark and unknown.

"Wait, my flashlight!" he exclaimed, taking his bag off of his back and opening it. He stuck his hand in and dug around for the object. He gave a quick "ah ha!" and pulled out a small, black, palm-sized flashlight with a beveled edge. He gave it a quick flip in his hand and nodded. He then closed his bag, pointed the torch into the dark threshold, and clicked the button on the end, bathing the entire corridor in a bright white-blue glow. _Not so intimidating now, are ya?_ he thought to himself as he stepped into the now lit tunnel.

James proceeded down the tunnel, with the only sound being that of his own footsteps, echoing around him. The slate grey walls around him were just as smooth as the walls around the hole, if little more so since there was no way for the rain to erode the stone this far down. This made him wonder though, _why are the walls so immaculate? It's almost as if they were carved out by someone... or something._ He gulped slightly, getting an odd sense of deja vu for some odd reason. "It's just the atmosphere is all. Plus, that walls are even purple," he said to himself quietly, dismissing his sense of dread.

Eventually, after a short walk later, James entered a brightly lit chamber with a small patch of grass in the middle of it, lit by sunlight that streamed in from a small hole in the top of the cavern. He turned his flashlight off and put it in his pocket, deeming it unnecessary to waste the battery as there could be no way to get another. He scanned the room, seeing the same slate grey walls as everywhere else. However, the monotony was broken by a threshold flanked by purple, regal looking pillars. _Heh, called it,_ he chuckled to himself. He started walking over to the archway, but he is stopped when he reaches the grass, as a fairly large yellow flower grew out of it suddenly. "Huh?" he sputtered out, wondering why a flower sprouted for no reason. He looked around quickly, but found nothing out of the ordinary. As such, he walked around the flower.

James nearly reached the other side of the room when a shrill, young boy's voice behind him shouted out, "Hey! Where are you going!" He spun on his heel, and looked around the room, trying to find where the boy was, however he saw no one. "Down here!" the voice shouted out again, prompting James to looked down and at the flower he had passed just mere moments ago. He noticed that the flower had a FACE now.

James jumped in surprise at the very odd appearance of the flower with a face on it. He then pointed his finger out and asked "was that you?"

The flower chuckled and flashed an innocent smile. "Of course, who else but little ol' me?" he said in a very joyful tone, bobbing his… head from side to side, "I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

"Umm, hi Flowey, I'm James," James said, giving a small wave. "Would you happen to know where we are, Flowey?"

"Of course I do!" he said, with a small twitch, "We're in the Underground, home of the **MONSTERS**!" This caused James to become on edge, and to look around the chamber in case any of these monsters came out of the walls, or something like that.

"Don't worry, they're not gonna come out of the walls," Flowey said sounding slightly irritated. Flowey cocked his head to one side, perturbed, "You're new here aren't you?" James nodded, after calming down again. This caused Flowey's smile to sprout even bigger, "someone ought to teach you how things work around here!" He then stopped for a moment, concentrating on something.

"Umm, are you alright?" James asked him.

The flower shook his head quickly and smiled once again, if a little strained. "I am fine," he said with a hint of malice, causing James to be taken aback. However, Flowey continued on as if nothing happened, "Down here, there are dangers around every corner, dangers which you weak to."

"How do I get stronger then?" James asked quickly, cutting Flowey off.

"I was getting to that," the flower responded sharply, "You get stronger by obtaining LV."

"What's that?" James asked, cutting him off again.

"Love, of course," Flowey answered, smile twitching.

"Love, what does that-" James tried to ask, but was cut off by Flowey.

"Screw it! I can't stand you anymore!" Flowey blurted out, losing his joyful demeanor and gaining a more aggressive one, "I _was_ gonna fool you into killing yourself like the idiot you are, but you are just _so_ irritating!" Flowey then surrounded James in a wall of little white pellets that look almost like seed pods rotating quickly.

"DIE!" he yelled out, laughing maniacally and closing in the pellets. James looked around his prison of death, trying to find a way to escape, but none showed themselves. Not a hole, not a gap. He then began to panic, looking desperately for the escape route which simply wasn't there. _Well, RIP me_ , he thought to himself. Just as the pellets nearly finished closing in on him, they disappeared with a popping sound.

"What?" James asked in confusion. Flowey was just as confused as he was looking around. His eyes then grew wide as he stared past James, who went to turn around, only to have a ball of blue fire go past his head and hit Flowey directly in the face.

"AAAAHHH!" he screamed in a deep, distorted voice while shaking his head to try to put out the flames. However, he eventually called that quits and dove back into the ground from whence he came.

James gave a sigh, thankful that the Flower was gone, but then realized something, _Who threw that fireball..?_ He turned on his heel very slowly towards the doorway behind him, afraid of what he would find behind him. As he turned a… thing comes into view, something that looked like tall goat on its hind legs with white fur and wearing a purple robe was standing behind him with a determined look in its crimson eyes. Similar fire to the kind that hit Flowey was still conjured in its hands, ready to be thrown at a moments notice to dissuade any attack that came its way.

James finished his full turn and cowered ever so slightly underneath the glare from the, what he presumed, monster. "What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor and innocent youth!" she, as suggested by the voice, scolded the place where the flower once was. Her gaze then landed on a slightly hunched over James, softening when she realized why he was cowering. "I am sorry you had to see that young one, but sometimes people must do things they do not wish to do to save others."

James' nerves calmed themselves slowly, as he hasn't been vaporized by the monster yet, and gained a more neutral stance, but his guard remained up. "Thanks for saving me, any later and I guess I would have been swiss cheese," he said, breathing out a breathe he didn't know he was holding, "umm, who are you?"

The goat lady's smile widened. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the **RUINS** , the place before you," Toriel said gesturing to the purple archway before the two, "I come past this place everyday to check if anyone has fallen down, and to water the flowers occasionally, which you fell on judging from the yellow petals on your sweater."

Upon saying this, James looked down himself to see that his purple hoodie and dark colored jeans were covered in a bunch of yellow petals. "I am so sorry, I just happened to-" he started, panicking slightly over damaging her flowers, but is interrupted by Toriel giggling with one of her large paws covering her face.

"It's alright, my child, you could not help it," she dismissed him with a wave, "they are probably alright, I watered them just yesterday after all."

"Oh, okay then I suppose," he said, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, "I'm James, by the way."

"Hello James, may I ask that you please follow me into the Ruins? It is quite drafty out here," she asked, gesturing to the archway.

"Oh, umm, sure I suppose, lead the way!" And so the two went, into the Ruins and on the first step of the unaware James's journey.

Flowey looked on from the dark corridor on the other end of the room and seethed. However, his seething quickly turned into a malicious grin as a grand plan formulated in his flower brain... a plan to become…

God.

* * *

I promised I wouldn't let this just die like some of these other stories. I just take a long time to upload and to work on things. Please don't hate me. Also, please forgive me for any tense errors, I converted the entire thing from present tense to past tense on a whim before uploading.


	2. Act I-II: In RUINS

Toriel lead James into the Ruins proper, walking through the large archway and away from that murderous flower. James breathed a sigh of relief, glad to finally be away from Flowey. If he was to be honest, the flower frightened him. One would think him chicken, but he was nearly turned into an accurate cosplay of a slice of swiss cheese by the killer plant. He learned his lesson, do not take anything for granted in the underground.

He looked up and around the new room he entered and gasped in awe. It was absolutely massive. The purple brick walls loomed high above him, holding up a tall vaulting ceiling. The room was clean and well managed, but there were still obvious signs of age all around the room, like cracks in the stonework and plants growing from the walls. Even so, the plants were trimmed, and the marble stonework was swept. Even the leaf pile that sat between the dual marble staircases seem to sparkle that little bit.

Toriel strided up the right staircase quickly. She then disappeared into a door set into the far wall and flanked by vines growing down from the ceiling. However, James didn't have time to wonder what the rune was for, as Toriel had left him behind. So, he shook himself from his stupor and jogged up the stairs, following Toriel into the next room.

When he entered, he saw that Toriel was standing in front of a closed double door that was the same color of the walls. He couldn't quite see it past Toriel, but it looked as if the door had some form of symbol on it.

"Welcome to your new home, young one," Toriel said, cupping her paws in each other. "The Ruins contain many puzzles, like this one here," she continued, gesturing to the set of six pressure plates embedded into the floor of the room, "these are ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys."

James looked over towards where Toriel was gesturing and cocked his head to the side. "Huh. How do I solve it?" he asked, walking over to the array of plates.

Toriel bit her lip slightly before saying, "Oh no my child, you don't have to solve it yourself."

However, James was having none of it. He waved her off and said, "It's fine, I think I can do it just fine." He looked up from the puzzle and saw the look of concern that Toriel was giving him before adding, "Plus it'll be a great learning experience for if we get split up."

Toriel frowned slightly at this. However she relented, sighing. "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road."

James mhmm'd and muttered, "thanks," quietly before approaching the buttons in the floor. _Brave and foolish, fearless, walk not the middle road,_ he thought to himself, circling the pressure plates, _walk not the middle- wait, I think…_

He stepped onto the four outer most buttons, each one giving a pained grinding sound as they went down. After the fourth one went down, the door in the far wall opened up, leading into the next room. Toriel gave him a round of applause, "Nicely done my child. Let us proceed further into the catacombs." She then strided through the doorway. James smiled, before following Toriel.

In the next room, he saw Toriel walk over a set of bridges to stand in front of a set of spikes that blocked the way into the next room. _This had better not become a common occurence,_ James thought to himself while he followed Toriel over to the spikes. "So, what's the puzzle in this room?" he asked her.

She smiled softly."The spikes behind me will lower once both levers are pulled," she said while directing James's attention to the levers on the wall. He gave a curt nod and walked over to the one closest to him. He went to pull it, but instead hit the wall. _It's painted on, what?_ He thought to himself confused.

"No, no, no," Toriel chided, "the other one." He shook it off and went over to the next one, and gave it a hearty tug. He heard gears whirring in the wall but not much else. He turned around and checked on the spikes blocking the way, but they had yet to retract. He looked around the room a bit before spotting the other one on the wall across the river. _Guess I should flip that one too._

He walked over to the other lever and yanked that one down as well. Along with the sound of gears, the sharp * _SHINK*_ of spikes retracting filled the air.

"Good job, my child," Toriel said, giving a warm smile, "please follow me into the next room." She promptly turned around and went past the lowered spikes, with James following suit shortly thereafter.

The next room was very similar to the previous one, in that the walls were purple and the floor had a path going through it. However, what was special about this room was the raggedy, torn, practice dummy positioned near the edge of the room. Toriel stood near the dummy with her hands folded over each other. She looked distracted about something, but shook it off when James walked in.

Toriel beckoned James over to her with a patient smile and said, "come over here my child." James complied with a nod and strolled over to her and stood by the dummy. Toriel (somehow) smiled again, and spoke to him. "Now then, as a human in the Underground, you may be attacked by the monsters residing here," Toriel said, causing James to become weary of the kind goat. She continued, "However, you mustn't fight them. Instead, try to strike up a friendly conversation with them and I will come resolve the conflict for you," she then motioned towards the dummy, "try doing so with this Practice Dummy."

James looked at the dummy with uncertainty, then back up at Toriel, then back at the dummy, then asked, "is the dummy alive or..?"

Toriel covered her snout with her paw and giggled a bit at his question, then waved him off, "Of course not silly, it is just a dummy after all." She looked down at him and saw his hesitation and said, "it's okay, my child, it won't bite."

James hissed in a breathe before sighing, "I guess…" He turned towards the dummy and said confidently, "Hiya! How are ya? I'm James, and I must say you look absolutely dashing today in your…" James looked around in hesitation before asking, "dust?"

Toriel clapped for him. "You did nicely my child. Now then, let's continue." She then promptly turned and walked out of the room.

James sighed and said, "That's that I suppose."

However just as he was preparing to leave the room, he heard a slow, sarcastic clap. "Nicely done talking to an inanimate object _James_ ," came a girl's voice from behind him, "a real social butterfly, you are." James snapped around quickly and locked eyes with the girl who spoke to him.

She was smiling a mischievous smile at him, the corners of her mouth framed by her faintly blushed cheeks. Her crimson eyes betrayed a look of a playful, but dangerous demeanor. All of this was framed by a professionally done bob-cut style that was well taken care of. She stood with a confident posture that spoke of power and made her look imposing. She was wearing a lime-green-with-yellow-stripes sweater with simple brown khaki shorts that showed off a large portion of her thighs. Her overall build was very lithe and boyish, with lots of sharp angles and shallow curves.

She crossed her arms across her flat chest and gained an aggressive look. "Are you gonna stand there all day checking me out, or are you gonna ask me who I am?" She asked James, who was most definitely not taking a small notice to her… "features".

He shook his head and took the not-so-subtle hint. "Right! Who are you, and I was _not_ checking you out!" he rebuked, eliciting a chuckle from the teen.

"Sure you weren't," she said with an eye roll, "I'm Chara, and I've been following you and Toriel." She strode over to James, her bare feet slapping against the smooth stone.

"Totally not creepy at all, nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head, "If you wanted to come with, you could have said so. I need to catch up with Toriel before she gets worried, come on." He turned and beckoned her to follow.

"Sure, why not?" she said. Then she muttered, "like I have anything better to do."

"What was that?" James asked over his shoulder.

"Nothing."

They came up the next room, which the path curled and bent oddly in, leaving to the right. Toriel stood there, waiting for James. She then waved and continued moving down the hall. "Not real patient there, is she?" James commented to his recently acquired companion.

"Apparently so," she deadpanned. She brightened slightly then mentioned, "Remember the design of the path on the ground in this room, you'll need it for the spike bridge coming up."

"Uhh, okay then," James said, "Doesn't look that hard." He then walked the path a couple of times.

Chara was starting to get impatient with purple-clad boy and started to tap her foot. "Come on, we don't have all day," she stated.

James looked up from the path he was traversing and blinked at her, before making an "Oh" face and shooting upright. "Right right!" he said, "we should probably get moving, can't leave Toriel waiting after all." He then power walked down the path Toriel followed, with Chara lagging behind.

They took a corner in the path and came face-to-face with peculiar sight, to say the least. There was what looked to be a white frog with a black belly sitting in the middle of the hall. It just gazed at the two of them as they approached it. When they stopped in front of it, the frog just blinked at them and croaked.

James gave it a perplexed look and tilted his head. "Umm, what is it that I'm looking at here?" he asked Chara.

She walked up next to him and stood by his side. "It is monster type called 'Froggit'," she stated simply, "life is difficult for a frog like it."

James looked back over to the froggit with a more sympathetic look this time, and took a step forward. "Perhaps we should help it then," he said.

"Indeed we should. Kill it."

"Wait what?" James stammered, nearly tripping over himself, "You want me to kill some random monster we just met?"

"Yes, you'd be doing it a favor," the pale teen said.

"A favor? By killing it? I'm not some random sociopath mate. I'm not gonna kill something just because it's having a hard time at the moment."

Chara put her hand to her forehead and shook her head, letting out an exasperated sigh. "That's nice, that really is. Think of it as self-defense then, as you're about to be jumped."

"What?" James turned around just in time to be hopped onto by the froggit. It was a heavy monster, to say the least, making him struggle to breathe. Chara's laughter filled his ears as he struggled to get the frog off of him. "Oh quit your laughing and give me a hand here!" he yelled out to her, but she only laughed more. He looked at the frog in the eyes.

' _Maybe if I asked it nicely, it would get off,'_ he thought. So he cleared his throat and- as nicely as he could- said, "As pretty as you are, could you please get off of me?"

The froggit gave blush and what sounded like a giggle and hopped off of him. It stared at him and gave a croak.

James sat up and said breathlessly, "Thanks friend." He stood up and brushed the dust off of himself. He then glared back at the other teen who was covering her mouth. "Real lot of help you were there, mate," he said.

Not a moment afterwards, Toriel came around the next corner with a worried expression searching for where James had went. There, she came upon a sight. She saw James standing there with an irritated look and a blushing froggit hopping down the hall away from him. She calmed down quickly after realizing what had probably happened, and approached James. "Thank goodness you're all right," she said in a relieved tone, "I see that you managed to handle yourself?"

"Yeah, it was a small scuffle, but we sorted it out," said James, shifting his attention over to Toriel. His gaze softened a bit when he saw Toriel's concerned look. "I suppose we can continue now," he said, motioning to behind Toriel.

"Follow me then," she said, walking down the hall.

James hesitated, and looked back at Chara who gave him an evil glare that gave him the shivers. Shaking it off, he followed Toriel down the hall, hearing Chara follow soon after.

' _Why didn't say anything about Chara?'_ James wondered to himself. However, he is cut from his thoughts early as they arrived at the spike bridge that Chara mentioned earlier.

He heard Toriel 'hmm' for a moment before she said, "Please take my hand my child, I shall lead you across the bridge." She stuck out her hand for James to grab afterwards.

"But I can do it myself," James protested. Afterall, he just dealt with a froggit and two puzzles prior.

"I know you can my child, I don't wish to see you attempt this puzzle and hurt yourself." She emphasized her point by directing to the bridge of spikes, which was surrounded on both sides by a water moat. She then held out her hand again, smiling a motherly smile.

James contemplated arguing with her further, but decided it wouldn't be worth the time or effort. So, it was with a resigned sigh, he set his hand in Toriel's and followed her across the bridge.

Once across the hazard, James pulled his hand from Toriel's and crossed his arms.

Toriel sighed at this, and turned around to face him. She wore a very serious express and stood confidently. "Now then, my child," she started, "you have done excellently thus far, however I have a difficult request to ask of you." She exhaled before continuing, "I would like for you to walk to the end of the room by yourself, I'm sorry." She then turned and walked full speed down the long corridor behind her.

"Looks like you've been abandoned, not surprising," came Chara from behind James stood besides him.

"Oh great, just like dad. Went out for a pack of cigs and never came back," he replied dryly. "C'mon let's get going," he directed. He then started down the long corridor.

"Ooh, someone's antsy to get moving I see." Chara skipped after him down the hall.

"Yes I am. What's the situation with you? I didn't see you fall down that hole before," James interrogated. It was quite odd how she appeared out of nowhere.

"Who, me?" Chara responded, "I'm dead."

This caused James to lose his footing and stumble forward. However, he managed to catch himself before he lost his balance and shot Chara an incredulous look. "You're dead? What?"

Chara stopped behind James, who had turned around prior. "I died a long time ago, the monsters killed me when I first fell."

James raised a brow at this, "But they seem so nice, why would they do that?"

"Because they are evil, and only want to kill humans."

James grew suspicious of the girl. "Uh-huh, I guess I'll ask Toriel about it." With that, he turned around and continued down the hall.

Chara frowned at him, her plan wasn't _quite_ there yet, but it was getting there. She continued after him, saying, "You know she won't tell you the truth, she will tell only lies."

James gave an idle "uh-huh" and continued down the corridor. Chara simply frowned. "Your funeral for trusting them," she said, then went quiet.

They reached a pillar in the hall. As they were about to pass, Toriel walked out from behind it. "Greetings, my child," she greeted, "Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was simply behind this pillar the entire time." She folded her hands over themselves. "Thank you for trusting me, however there was a reason for this exercise," she continued, "and that is to test your independence." She then reached into a pocket of a her robe then before continuing again. "I must attend to some errands, take this cell phone and remain here," she paused and handed James an old flip phone from the early 2000's, "call if you need anything. Be good." With that, she went through the door to the next room and out of sight.

"Bye… I guess," James said with a small wave. He supposed he'd ask her about what Chara said later. But now, he'd take a break and wait for her to comeback. So, he sat down against the wall and patted a spot next to him.

"What?" Chara asked.

"Sit down, she won't be back for a while," James said, patting the spot again for emphasis.

Chara frowned, but she accepted anyways as she knew she would not be changing James's mind about the situation. Plus, she needed some time to think about what her next steps would be. Especially for how strait-sighted this kid is.

* * *

And for me to flush out an actual plot. Like seriously, I need an idea of what I'm doing and what everyone's motives are before I continue this. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm going on an indefinite hiatus, it's just me being honest with you guys.

And before I forget, sorry if I offended any of you with that abandonment joke.


	3. Act I-III: RUINation

James came to, his eyes slowly fluttered open. He then bolted up into a sitting position when he saw that this place looked suspiciously un-RUINs like. In fact, the place he was in was a deep black, absorbing all forms of light.

However, he was still able to see in this place, as if it was being lit from himself. He looked around himself in confusion and worry. He did not remember coming here, in fact, he remembers laying against a wall then…

"Oh! I'm asleep!" he exclaimed, hopping up to his feet. He calmed down quickly after realizing that he may not be in the imminent danger he thought he was in. "But that begs the question of what this dream is about…" he trailed off and looked about himself in curiosity.

Very quickly, he determined there to be little of interest around him. So, he shrugged and chose a direction to walk. "Maybe there's something over here," he said to himself.

On his journey to nowhere, he soon came across a very out of place noise- sobbing, which caught him off guard. ' _Who's crying?'_ he thought to himself. He listened to the sobbing and tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. ' _I think it's coming from over here_.' He picked up his pace.

Eventually, he came across the strangest sight. He saw a boy no older than fifteen laying in the fetal position on the ground facing away from him; crying.

He wore an outfit extremely similar to Chara's, with a few differences. The sweater had a base of baby blue with a pink line running across the chest going around the back, and he wore blue denim shorts that stopped to just above his knees. Unlike Chara, he was wearing a pair of brown trainers with black socks. The boy's bobcut hair was tousled, and twisted, most like from grabbing at it while in his despair.

 _I should probably go help him_. James walked quietly, but quickly towards the boy, stopping a reasonable distance away from him. He sat down across from him, and waited.

He wasn't waiting for long, as the boy's breath hitched shortly after. He obviously heard James sit down, but didn't give any other indications as to knowing he was there.

James was okay with that, he would let the boy approach him on his own terms. He was a stranger, after all. So he waited.

Soon the boy shifted a little and started to quiet down, going from openly crying to quiet whimpers with the occasional sniffle. The boy shifted up into a sitting position and wiped his eyes and nose. With a last sniffle he turned around to face James.

" _It seems as if he didn't expect to see me here."_ The boy was flabbergasted to see James sitting across from him.

"Who are you?" the boy asked shyly, his hair falling down to cover his face.

James didn't miss a beat. He put on a happy grin and responded confidently. "I'm James! Who are you?"

The boy seemed to hesitate for a moment, but responded in kind after a moment's thought. "I'm... Frisk." he said quietly.

James grinned, and relaxed a bit. "Well, glad to meet you, Frisk. Do you know where we are, by chance?"

Frisk looked uncertain about the question. "I think… that this is the VOID."

James looked at Frisk. "Huh, this place seems kinda crappy. What're you doing here?"

Frisk giggled at that. "I've been here by myself for a while now," he sighed dejectedly, "I don't know how I got here."

James frowned slightly, as Frisk seemed like a nice enough guy, maybe a little quiet, but there's nothing wrong with that. "Well, I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be around, but I'll keep you company."

Frisk smiled at James's kindness and nodded. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"No problem." James looked around himself, noting that everything was still as dreary as it was and asked a question. "So, do you know how to get out of here?"

Frisk frowned and shook his head. "No I do not, I've been stuck here for so long, I'm starting to lose hope that I could ever get out..." He sniffled slightly.

James looked at the poor teen sadly. He just wished that he could comfort his new friend, especially since he seems so lonely. He then had an excellent idea and smiled. He got onto his knees and held open his arms to Frisk. "C'mere, friend, you need a hug."

Frisk looked at him suspiciously and shook his head. "I'm fine..."

However, James wasn't buying it. "Frisk, you were in tears just earlier, you need a friend, and you need a hug." James then scooted closer to the other boy.

Frisk scooted away from James, still weary of him. "No, you'll only hurt me."

James locked-up. _'Only hurt him, what?'_ His arms dropping to his sides. _'Who would want to hurt such an innocent person?'_

"Frisk, what do you-?" James started, but was interrupted by a searing headache and a flash of dizziness. He gripped his head in pain and tumbled forward, hitting his face on the non-ground of the void. There, he started blacking out. A panicked Frisk was the last thing he saw.

 _-==+Wit+==-_

The first thing James noticed upon coming to, was that he was no longer against the wall he fell asleep on. Instead, he was on the floor, with an incredible headache. With a groan, he pushed himself up off the ground and leaned against the wall. He turned around to see Chara standing above him with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"Finally, you're awake!" She said, throwing her hands into the air exasperation, "You've been out for fifteen minutes!"

James grumbled under his breath and put a hand to his aching head. "That's great, what did you do, hit me with a rock?"

"Of course not," she said, waving him off, "I kicked you."

James shook his head in disbelief. "REALLY!?" he yelled, but quickly put a hand to his head, instantly regretting it.

Chara strutted around James. "You just looked so peaceful," she stopped and turned towards him, "I had to wake you up."

James rolled his eyes and pushed away from the wall he was leaning on. "Uh-huh sure, couldn't you have done that in a less, I dunno, dick way?"

Chara smirked in response. "And miss a chance to hurt you? No way."

James deadpanned. "Wow, ru~de."

Chara giggled at his response, and started walking towards the door. "Now that that is sorted, do try to keep up. I have places to be."

James reached out to Chara. "He-hey! Wait up!" he yelled out, following after her.

They passed through the door and into yet another chamber. Much like the other rooms, this one had a large vaulted ceiling that was shadowed in darkness. The ever present polished tile path went to two doors, one to their left, and another at the end of the chamber to their right. The path was bordered by dried, dead leaves, even though there were no trees around.

"Human," spoke a voice from James's left. He snapped around quickly, and immediately locked eyes with a monster, a Froggit to be exact. He jumped back from the monster with a yelp.

Chara covered her mouth and snickered at him. He shot her an irritated glare that only made her snicker louder. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the froggit. "Sorry about that, I didn't expect you to be there is all."

"I did not mean to startle you, human. I simply wished to tell you something important about monsters," the froggit croaked out.

"Okay then, shoot."

The froggit took a breath in and began. "If you are in a battle and you ACT a certain way or injure a monster enough, they will not wish to fight you anymore. Please, find it in yourself to give them mercy," it groaned out. It shook its head despondently. "Of course, there isn't much use in arguing with a human about such things..."

James was preparing to ask what the froggit meant by that, but it hoped away too quickly, leaving James there with his hand in the air.

"See what I mean?" came Chara through the silence. James looked back at her incredulously. She had a smug smirk on her face, and her arms crossed. She projected an "I told you so" feeling and was doing so arrogantly. "Monsters are nothing but unforgiving demons."

James threw his hand down to his side. "Oh come on! It was just one monster-"

"Two."

"Two monsters. That doesn't say anything about the rest of them! What about Toriel?" James was fuming. He was getting sick of Chara's additude and it was only putting pressure on him he didn't need.

"We both know the truth, don't let her convince you otherwise." She uncrossed her arms and walked closer to him. "Monsters do not care for humans, and only wish to see them suffer."

James gave her a unbelieving look and started walking to the room the froggit was sitting next to. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say "Doom and Gloom". Toriel has been nothing but nice to me. There is absolutely no reason to think she would stab me in the back."

Chara growled quietly and followed James into the room. "She has absolutely no reason to not betray you." They walked up a set of stairs leading to a dias that was surrounded by water. "She's leading you into a false sense of safety."

James gave a "mmhm" in response and approached a stone bowl that sat on a worn marble podium. As he approached it, he noticed that it had a note taped onto it. "One will be taken?" he read outloud, "What does that mean?"

Chara simply shook her head in disappointment. _"How could someone be this blind?"_ she thought to herself. She sighed loudly, which caught James's attention.

He looked back at her. "What?"

Chara simply pointed in response. James followed her finger back to the bowl. He raised a brow in confusion and peered of the edge of it, only to find a strange, gold and blue colored wrappered _thing_ with strange symbols written on it sitting in the bottom of the bowl. He pulled it out and rolled it around in his hands.

"It's Monster Kandy," Chara stated.

James looked up at her, then back down at the thing in his hands. "Monster Kandy, huh? Sounds sweet." He put it in his pocket and turned to face the girl. "I suppose we should get moving?"

"Will you always ask that?" she scorned.

"Yes, and I'm taking that as a yes." He hopped down the steps of the dias two at a time and passed by Chara. "Let's get a move on, we've spent enough time dilly-dallying already!"

Chara rolled her eyes and followed behind him. _"This guy is gonna give me a nonexistent headache."_

They left the room and were now back in the corridor filled with leaves. James turned around to look back at Chara as she walked out of the room with her hands on her temples, looking irritated. "Hey, how'd you know that thing was called "Monster Kandy" anyways?"

Chara looked at him and sighed. "I can read Hei No-Ytra. I had to learn in order to better survive down here."

"What does that mea-" James started, however he was interrupted by the phone Toriel gave him before she left ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at it for a moment, before flipping it open and putting it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Oh, hello my child!" came Toriel through the speaker, "You have not left the room yet, have you?"

James grimaced slightly and bit his lip. "Uhh, no. I'm still in there."

"Oh good. There were a few puzzles up ahead I had yet to explain that could be potentially dangerous. I know you can handle yourself, but I do not wish to see you hurt."

Chara beckoned to him to finish the call with a roll of her hand, getting impatient with how little progress they had made in such a long time.

James rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright, thank you _Mom_ , I'll see you soon."

"Wait, what?" Toriel's concern was interrupted by James closing the phone.

"Finally!" Chara exasperated loudly. This all was taking way too damn long.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." James turned back around and took a left hand turn down into _yet_ another corridor. All of the corridors in this place looked identical. All the same shade of purple on the walls. The same boring floors. The same cracks in the paths. It was all pretty bland, and for as much as he liked purple, this particular shade was starting to get on his nerves.

However, this was altogether forgotten when the cracked section of the floor gave way from underneath James. He gave a brief yell on his way down, which was cut short by him landing on his back in a pile of leaves. "Dammit!"

From above him, he heard Chara laughing loudly. "Didn't you see the cracks!?" She was bent over and had her hands on her knees to keep herself from falling over. She was laughing so hard that her face was turning more red than usual, however that was possible.

"Oh, hah hah. Laugh it up. Once I find a way to get back up there, your nonexistent ass is grass, and I'm a mower!"

However, Chara simply continued laughing. Eventually she found it in herself to snort out, "You wish." She then bursted into more laughter.

James scoffed at her and sighed in response. He got up off of the ground, brushing himself off once he was standing back at full height. He took a look around him and saw that this room was just like every other; a starting-to-become-grating purple color, but much more dusty. It looked as if he was the only one to come here in a long while.

He heard a whimper come from a corner of the room, which drew his attention over to it. There was a wispy monster in the corner. It was very pale, had tiny fairy wings, and antenna sticking out of the top of it's head. It had the appearance of a bedsheet ghost, with two, twig-like legs sticking out from underneath the "sheet". It looked absolutely terrified of James, which was evident because it was huddled into a corner of the room in fear.

James looked at it sympathetically and shuffled towards it. "Hey, are you okay?" He reached a hand out to it as he came closer.

However, before James could reach it, it squeaked loudly and fluttered away. James dropped his hand and shrugged. _"Guess it didn't want help,"_ he thought remorsefully. He just hoped the poor thing would be okay, it seemed absolutely shaken.

He went to one of the doors in the wall and found that it was just a rickety, wooden ladder which looked about as old as the rest of the Ruins. He gave it a firm shake to see if would hold, and found that it did. He took a breath in and climbed up the chute.

When he got out of the chute, he found that he was on the other side of the cracked floor he fell through. Chara was there waiting for him, tapping her foot.

"Impressive, I've never seen a Whimsun fly that fast before. What'd you do, show it your face?"

James rolled his eyes. "No, I tried to console it, but it flew off."

Chara frowned at him, but said nothing else.

He dusted himself off and continued down the corridor, but this time watching where he was stepping as to not make the same mistake twice.

Then they came to a rock in the road, literally. with a worn path leading to a pressure plate in front of it. At the far end of the room was the exit, but like everywhere else in this place, it had spikes blocking the way.

James paced around the rock and approached the pressure plate. He stepped down onto it and the spikes at the far end of the room retracted. When he lifted his foot, the spikes popped back up into position. He "hmm'd" to himself, and walked over the rocked and gave it a firm shove, which caused it to shift slightly. He braced his shoulder against the rock and pushed it. Eventually, he heard the pressure plate activate underneath him, and heard the spikes retract.

He stood up from the rock and wiped his forehead of the little sweat it accumulated. "Well then, that was easy," He stated. He looked behind himself to gesture to Chara to follow him, but it turned out she was already by the exit. She was stood there, waiting for him before continuing on. He shrugged to himself and they continued on.

In the next room, they came across a horrible sight. The whole floor was just cracked stones. There was no way to continue without taking another fall. So, with a sigh, James stepped forward to the edge of the stones, and prepared himself for another trip to pain town.

With confidence, he planted his foot onto the stone work with all his weight. However, nothing happened; the path held. Mostly held, actually. The area where he stepped remained stable, however the floor directly next to it gave way.

"Ohh…" James muttered to himself quietly. He took another step forward, and additional stones fell away from the real path. And another, and another, and another. He placed one foot in front of the other, past various bends in the path, until he reached the end.

When he stepped back onto stable ground, he looked behind him to see that the path he traversed was lightly outlined by the missing ground. He tightened his lips together and turned around...

And straight into the face of Chara. He jumped back in surprise, exclaimed "What the hell!?" and nearly fell onto the cracked stone. "How did you get over here already?"

Chara shook her head. "I'm a ghost, remember? I don't have to walk." To prove her point, she floated up into the air and leaned back, crossing her legs. "I must admit, it was entertaining seeing you walk so focused like that."

James blinked at her then shrugged her off and walked into the next room, with Chara floating close behind.

He took a look around this next room, and noticed a couple of things. For one, there was another set of spikes, but with three rocks instead of one. This set of spikes happened to be blocking the path over a moat. Another thing he noticed was the sounds of quiet guitar music. Just some repeating chords, nothing much more than what one would play if they were bored or wanted something quiet to listen to.

He ignored this, however, to go push some rocks. First, he started with the Left most one, and shoved it onto the button, causing it to elicit a subtle *click*. He then moved onto the next rock, doing much of the same. He then moved down and get ready to push the next rock.

However, he hesitates when he hears the guitar music from before coming from this rock, and… _"Is that humming I hear?"_ He looks back to Chara with a raised eyebrow. She had her hand in front of her mouth, looking somewhat constipated. She waved him forward.

He shrugged her off, and braced himself on the rock, and _heaved!_

Suddenly, the sound of a pick being dragged along guitar strings pierces James's ears, causing him to cover them and fall away from the rock.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH! What are you doing there, partner!" Yelled a voice with a thick southern drawl. James watched as the rock rotated to _face_ him. "Didn't your mama eva' tell ya to say 'Excuse me.'!?" It was the rock talking! Why is the rock talking!?

Behind him, he heard Chara laughing her ass off. He looked behind himself to see she had her stomach clutched, and was bent over barely keeping her balance. "Oh you shut the hell up, you knew that was gonna happen!"

James heard the rock gasp at him. "You watch yourself greenhorn! Y'all already on thin ice!" This caused Chara to laugh even harder, which led to her losing her balance and landing on the floor with a *thud*.

James ignored Chara and focused on fixing the issue at hand. "I am so, so, sorry! I thought you were just like any other rock, and I didn't mean you any offense. My friend is being really obnoxious." James spat out in a single breath.

The rock threw James an inquisitive look… somehow. "Are you alright there? It's just us here greenhorn."

It was James's turn to be confused. "My friend Chara is back there rolling on the floor laughing." He gestured back to where Chara was, who was starting to calm down.

"It's just us here. Are you sure you're alright?"

James then remembered that Chara is dead, and the rock might not be able to see her, and he looks a lot like an idiot right now.

He opted to try to save face instead of trying to explain the semantics behind his spectral friend. "Oh nothing, I'm just going a bit mad," he said, waving the rock off, "I fell on my head on my way down."

"That's a might shame, partner. Sorry for snapping at you like that earlier, you surprised me is all." The rock shifted itself slightly. "I'm George, nice to meet ya!"

James looked at the rock wearily, but quickly understood what the rock wanted. The question is, how do you shake hands with a rock? He opted to just set his hand on George and hope for the best. "Heya, I'm James. Nice to meet ya!"

"Likewise! So, what can I help ya with since you were so eager to get my attention."

James gestured to the button that was behind the rock. "I was actually gonna push you on to that button. I need to get to the other side of that moat, but the spikes are blocking my way."

The rock turned around and saw what James was talking about. "Ahh, I see the problem here. Let me get that for ya." The rock- George, shifted himself over to the button and sat himself upon it. Upon doing so, the spikes blocking the bridge over the moat fell, allowing for free passage.

"Thank you George. It was nice talking, but I have to get moving!" James yelled behind him as he rushed passed George. "And keep up the good work on guitar, you were sounding amazing!"

George simply chuckled. "Ah hell, thanks. Good luck to ya greenhorn!"

As James walked over the bridge, he heard George yell out behind him. "Lenny! What did I say about petting Moldsmols!?"

In the next room, he saw there was a table with some cheese on it, and opted to sit next to it and relax.

"Nice job getting the rock to move. Guess your talking _is_ good for something." James looked up to see Chara leaning against the wall directly across from him. However, her demeanor changed to a more serious one quickly. "Never mention me ever again."

James did a double take. "Wha-why?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm dead. Now drop it. Never talk about me with any monster ever again. It would be for the best."

Chara pushed herself away from the wall and walked over to the table and took a seat across from James.

James didn't notice her, instead he opted to think about how bizarre his day has been so far.

Before he could get into any meaningful thought, he heard a growl noise from around him. He shot up from where he was sitting quickly, and scanned his surroundings.

Chara raised a brow at him. "What are you doing?"

James, not finding any immediate threat, calmed and sat down once again. "Nothing, I thought I heard something."

Again, the noise came, but this time it was accompanied by a rumbling in his stomach. He chuckled to himself and scratched the back of his head. "Guess I'm just hungry, heh."

Chara groaned and let her head fall to the table. "You idiot."

* * *

Hello! It's me again. A lot has happened since the publishing of the previous chapter. I will spare you the details of it but the tl;dr is depression. Anyways, this chapter was surprisingly difficult to write, but I'm attributing that to me being inexperienced. Either way, I got it finished and I am happy about that.

Now then, about Chara. It's obvious that I was gonna aim for a more evil Chara at the start, but I couldn't think of anyway to do that, so instead I will aim for a more mellow CHARActer. As nice as I think the dynamic of evil Chara is, I don't think I would be able to pull of her being truly evil without making her a physical person. So, she will continue to go through many changes, with the hopes that they will flow together well.

One last thing before I go, I want to give a shout-out to the user Skoolatoon for helping me proofread this chapter. He's been giving me advice on how to do certain literary things and has been a massive help to me. For anyone who doesn't know what his works entails, I'll title drop some of them: Freakin' Gensokyo, Sendai no Miko Mode, and GensokyoBound. I'm not certain about the content about the last two, but I can say that FG is a very good read for someone who is looking for time to kill and wanting a laugh. Though be aware, some of the topics discussed aren't suitable for all audiences.

Also! Keep an eye out for some future works I'll be doing for practice. These will be two sequals to the craic-fictions I have written, and another story relating to Touhou.

That's all she wrote! Please review, and any advice or errors spotted would be great to hear. Just drop me a PM!

Chao!


	4. Act I-IV: A GHASTLY Encounter

Chara was not having the best of days. First, Frisk was being a crybaby, then the world changed ever so slightly, then some random kid was in the flowers when she showed up! What was going on?

Speaking of whom, he was currently standing over the figure of a ghost- Napstablook if she remembered correctly- try to figure out how to get around him without disturbing his "slumber." His words, not hers. She knows that this is nothing more than a small fight that the second Goody-Two-Shoes can deal with. The issue was getting him to just move the ghost!

"JAMES! Just push the ghost out of the way!" she exclaimed at the thinking boy, startling him. This kid sometimes…

He directed his attention to Chara and frowned at her. "I don't want to, that'd be rude."

Chara facepalmed. She was getting _really_ sick of this shit. First Frisk, now him. She couldn't catch a break, could she? "James… It's a ghost for crying out loud! We have no need for sleep!"

The ghost buzzed its "teeth" together, producing a line of "z"s, like he was trying to sleep. He even turned his head and looked at the two, cracking an eye to check if they were gone yet. When he saw that they were still there, he snapped his eyes back together and turned away.

Chara let out an exasperated sigh. She was getting really sick of all of these games. If only she could find a way to kill this kid sooner. But that was never going to happen if he didn't move the damned ghost! "GOD DAMMIT JAMES, JUST MOVE HIM ALREADY!" she yelled.

That got James moving. He nodded his head and jogged over to Napstablook, who looked slightly disturbed. Chara pinched the bridge of her nose. She had lost her cool, over nothing. Not even Frisk got such a reaction out of her. For the time she spent with Toriel, she had always stressed staying calm in even the most drastic of circumstances. She just blew her lid at nothing…

The sounds of James trying to rouse the "sleeping" ghost pulled her from her thoughts. Finally!

"Heya, dude," James started. He tried to put a hand on the specter to wake it, but his hand just phased through it. "Can you get up please? Me and my- er… I'm trying to get to the end of the Ruins, but you're blocking the way."

The ghost opened its eyes, floated away from the ground. He then turned to face James, who backed away slightly. "oh… sorry… didn't mean to be a nuisance to you…" he said, cowering before him.

James approached the ghost with an open gesture and a smile. "Heya, it's fine dude," he said, trying to pat the ghost on the shoulder, but failing, "just keep an eye out for others just in case they need to get through."

The ghost smiled a bit, but not much. "yeah… i guess so… i suppose i should get out of your way now..." He started drifting into the floor slowly, seamlessly phasing out of sight.

"Bye friend!" James hollard after him, much to Chara's disdain. "He seemed pretty..."

"Pathetic?" Chara asked helpfully.

"I was gonna say depressed," he shrugged, "but I guess that also works." He stepped through the leaves where that ghost laid just moments prior, disturbing the pile and scattering red leaves everywhere. "I do wonder what was worrying him, though..." They turned right.

Chara deadpanned at the boy. She was getting sick of all of _his_ worrying about others. "Probably nothing important to us."

They turned left, walking down a long hallway with some froggits in it. The frog monsters were giving him a funny look, confused as to why he was talking to himself. "But what if it's important to him? We should be at least considerate to listen to him."

Chara frowned and shook her head at the boy. "But why!? You don't even know him?"

James stopped and spun on his heel, facing the teen. "Because I'm trying to be a nice person, something that _you_ obviously don't understand!" He scowled at the girl, his brown eyes staring directly into her own. They were filled with anger and frustration, representative of the boy whose limit had been reached.

He eventually broke eye contact with her, and marched further down the hall and into the next room, not bothering to see if she was following.

Chara was taken aback. Of everything, she had not expected _that_! Frisk would have never did that. He would have just stayed quiet and let Chara continue to talk trash about his friends. But James…

Chara smiled to herself, maybe this boy is a blessing in disguise. He was _interesting_ , unlike that crybaby Frisk. Plus if her observations were correct, _he couldn't save!_ He would her ticket to save the underground!

She laughed to herself and skipped after the boy. Oh was she going to enjoy messing with him.

Meanwhile, in the next room, James was in a pickle. There was a row of spikes blocking to door to the next room, but there was no way to lower them. At least no way that he could see. And there were no hints available to him either. He was stuck…

He paced around the room, inspecting the walls closely to make sure he didn't miss anything. But he couldn't find anything! No bricks poking out, no hidden pressure plates. There were just no leads! He was tempted to call Toriel, but he didn't want her being angry at him for leaving the place where he was before. He was running out of options.

He stamped his foot in irritation. _"No! I'm not just gonna let something like this beat me!"_ He stomped again. _"I'm better than this! I can do this! Also, why's the floor shaking?"_ He looked down to see the floor give way from underneath him, dropping him.

He landed with a thud into a pile of leaves on the next level down, and got the wind knocked out of him. "God dammit..." he muttered to himself, and picked himself off of the ground. He looked around the room while picking some stray leaves off of himself. He saw that ghost from earlier, laying in a pile of leaves like earlier. This time, he was looking at James with wide eyes, most likely startled from his impromptu entrance.

James gave a nervous chuckle and a wave at the ghost, who just continued to stare at him like a he was a weirdo. The atmosphere started getting awkward, so James did what he did best. Talk.

"Yo, what's up?" he asked casually. The ghost just continued to stare at him like he grew a second head. James rubbed his neck and looked away. "I'm James, I asked you to move earlier?"

"oh… sorry… i was spaced out. i'm napstablook..."

"It's nice to meet you Napsta! I'm having some troubles with the puzzle up above," James said, pointing up, "Do you have any ideas?"

The specter thought for a moment. "i saw a switch in one of these drops earlier… though I don't know which one." The ghost's expression turned sorrowful. "sorry i can't help more..."

James smiled by the ghost and waved him off. "Ah, you're fine. That's more than what I could have figured out. Thanks Napsta, see ya around!" He then went to the ladder chute and climbed out. Napstablook floated there for a moment, thinking. The he smiled and phased into the wall.

James, climbed out of the chute onto the previous level. He looked around the room, but this time paying attention to the floor for the telltale signs of crumbling. He noticed that they were five others around the floor, all most likely leading into another room.

"This is gonna be a pain in the ass," he groaned, accepting his fate.

* * *

After a while of falling down and getting back up again, he managed to proceed to the next room. While he was falling down, he met a particularly evil looking carrot, who _very_ creepily offered him some broccoli. He was weary of the origin of the morsel, but he accepted it nonetheless. He couldn't remember the last time he ate, but he wanted to preserve the granola bars for as long as possible.

"How's the wall?" Chara came from his left, floating along in a relaxed style. After a bit of walking around, she showed up and gave some snarky remarks about his ineptitude with solving the puzzle. Turns out he had to press the button hidden behind the pillars.

James shot her a glance and continued walking. "Purple, what's it to ya?" he snarked.

Chara touched down on the ground and held up her hands. "Woah, I'm not here to insult you, I'm just curious about what you are staring at."

He rolled his eyes. "'Not here to insult you,' she says," he quoted, "says the girl who laughed when she saw me put a ribbon in my hair to keep it out of my eyes." He smacked a green button on the back of a pillar and continued on.

"Well, it looks ridiculous!" she defended, "how could I not laugh!?"

He threw his arms in the air. "By keeping it to yourself!"

She simply scoffed at him, and remained quiet. James was still very much annoyed at her, and was getting sick of her harassment. However, she was his only friend right now, so he couldn't just tell her "piss off" and be done with it. And somehow he felt like Chara knew this as well.

So, he was stuck silently simmering at the girl, who was leisurely walking behind him.

They came to a junction in the road. The path going left appeared well maintained, with a raked pile of leaves in the path. The path going straight seemed similarly well maintained, but was otherwise uninteresting. Considering that James was trying to find Toriel, he opted to go left. If she was anywhere, it would be the path that looked like it was cared for.

The two entered a dim room with a vaulting ceiling. In the middle, surrounded by fallen leaves, sat a dark barked oak tree. James admired the tree, its scale, and the amber leaves that kept growing and falling, in a perpetual loop of life and unlife. It was beautiful.

They heard a worried voice come from behind the tree. "Oh dear, that took longer than I thought."

"Toriel!? Was that you?" James called out. He walked around the wide tree, and found the motherly goat woman standing there. She was shocked to see James there, with a paw covering her mouth and wide eyes.

"My child? How did you get here?" she asked, approaching James.

James flicked his eyes to the ground and rubbed his arm. "I… went through the Ruins against your wishes." He didn't want her to be mad at him, as she has shown him kindness and love. "Sorry…"

Toriel looked down at him with a compassionate smile. "Oh, it is okay. As long as you weren't hurt." She crouched down and hugged the teen, enveloping him in a warm embrace. "It was irresponsible of me to leave you alone like that. I wished to surprise you is all."

James returned her hug, enjoying the warm feeling that was going through him. It was a similar sensation he felt back when Toriel first found him. It was as if his very essence was being rejuvenated from its hardships and strife. It was something that spread through his entire body. It came from within, and went to his fingers and toes.

However, the feeling ended with Toriel separating herself from James, leaving only visages of it behind. He frowned slightly. "Aww, it's gone. I was enjoying that." He slouched over and looked up at Toriel.

Toriel giggled at him. "Healing spells do have that effect, young one. They are nice, but one mustn't use them frequently."

"Boo…" he said. He kicked the ground in despair, but perked up. "Didn't you say you had a surprise for me?"

Toriel nodded at him. "Indeed, my child. If you would follow me inside, i will show you."

"Umm, okay…" James trailed off. Toriel led James in the direction of a tidy little cottage that sat towards the back of the expansive room. He had a feeling that whatever this surprise was, it would change his life forever.

* * *

Yeah... this was kind of rushed, wasn't it? Hmm... The thing is, I didn't realise how boring it would be to recount Undertale in a self-insert story. Like it's really boring. The idea was to change it up a bit, but with how linear the game is, it takes quite some doing to do. I'm hoping that after James and Chara leave the Ruins, I can start adding some variation, as at that point, the characters don't have to be as predictable. Like, Toriel is a walking mom stereotype. Kind of have to comform to that. Granted I don't have much characterization practice, so...

Anyways, I'll try to not let this get stale to me (I've been typing it for the whole of four chapters) but we'll see.

~Ciao!


End file.
